Hormuz news moved on Tuesday when Khawaja Asif said the U.S. and Iran are close to “some sort of an arrangement,” adding from Islamabad that “Things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal.” He also said, “The signals in the last two three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement.”
The comments came as Mohsin Raza Naqvi arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials on Tuesday, keeping Pakistan at the center of a channel that has run alongside Oman and Qatar throughout the conflict. For Pakistan, the practical question is whether the talks are moving toward a narrow understanding or something broader.
Pakistan, Oman and Qatar
Pakistan has been mediating between the U.S. and Iran throughout the conflict alongside Oman and Qatar. Asif did not spell out the terms of the possible arrangement, but his wording points to a process still in motion rather than a finished text. In diplomatic terms, that leaves room for a limited deal, a pause, or a more structured understanding, depending on what the two sides choose to accept.
Mohsin Raza Naqvi’s trip to Tehran adds a second track of contact for Pakistan on the same day. The presence of Pakistan’s interior minister in Tehran shows that the channel is not limited to one official or one portfolio, even if the substance of any arrangement remains unsaid.
Bab el-Mandeb Strait cargo vessel
While Pakistan says a deal may be close, a cargo vessel attack and fresh strikes in southern Lebanon show the regional conflict remains active. On Tuesday, a cargo vessel was hit by a projectile near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of southern Yemen, and UKMTO said the vessel in the southern Red Sea was hit by an unknown projectile resulting in casualties.
Marisks said a Saudi-owned commercial vessel had reportedly been struck by a missile while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb on Tuesday, and initial reports indicated three crew fatalities, including two Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian national. That leaves shipping crews facing the immediate risk of short-range strikes in a corridor that still carries commercial traffic.
Southern Lebanon and Nabatieh
An Israeli attack on southern Lebanon wounded two people on Tuesday and damaged an ambulance, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli military struck again when rescuers from the Risala Scouts Association came to the scene, and Lebanon's civil defence said its personnel were targeted by an Israeli drone strike while they were trying to extinguish a bushfire in the Nabatieh area.
Lebanon says Israel's strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people. The separate incidents in southern Lebanon and at sea keep the diplomatic opening under pressure, because any arrangement between the U.S. and Iran would have to land while the broader Middle East file is still producing casualties.
Asif’s remarks left the next step pointed back toward the negotiating channel itself: whatever arrangement is being discussed has not been described publicly, and the practical test now is whether Pakistan’s contacts in Tehran and its mediation with Oman and Qatar produce a text both sides can accept.
